


The Best Catch of All

by prissygirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, One Shot, Pokemon GO - Freeform, Rumbelle - Freeform, Storybrooke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 04:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7493760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prissygirl/pseuds/prissygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle discovers that the fearsome Mr. Gold is also addicted to Pokemon Go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Catch of All

Though Belle French considered herself more of a reader than a gamer, even she would admit that she had become addicted to playing Pokemon Go after only a few days.

Had she still doubted it, the ear-piercing squeal she let out at realizing there was a rare Dragonite nearby would have convinced her – as well as anyone else within a 1 mile radius – of the fact.

Belle had been searching for the creature ever since she entered the park, trying to pinpoint exactly where it was located, and had been overjoyed to see the creature finally pop up onto her phone’s map near the statue of Storybrooke’s founding mother, Cora Mills.

For the first time since Belle had moved to the small town earlier that year, she was glad to see the garish tribute that the mayor had insisted upon.

As she approached, she could see that there was already another person there. Though the statue blocked her from seeing who, she could tell that the person was alone, a fact which rather surprised her. Despite its popularity across the country, Pokemon Go had been slow to catch on in Storybrooke – not surprising considering half the town still had flip phones, Belle supposed – and up until this point, she had only seen groups of teenagers playing it together.

Perhaps she could finally make friends with another adult who enjoyed the game, Belle thought as she neared the statue. If she was lucky, maybe he or she would want to join her on her walks occasionally. It would be nice to have some company as she –

Belle stopped dead in her tracks. _Mr. Gold_ was blocking her creature.

For half a second, she considered turning around. It was just her luck that she would run into him now of all times. Though she hadn’t exchanged more than a passing hello to the man before, she had certainly heard enough of his fearsome reputation from others to know that getting on his bad side was the last thing she wanted to do.

Belle certainly didn’t want to incur his wrath by asking him to move. The idea of explaining to him _why_ she needed him to do so was even less appealing.

Had it been a more common creature like a small Pidgey or a Rattata, she probably would have left. But even as she stared down the even scarier beast blocking her Dragonite, she knew she wasn’t leaving without her rare Pokemon.

Belle willed herself to keep walking round the statue towards him, wondering to herself why he was even at the park in the middle of the day when she heard the music.

She came to a dead halt before him, her eyes growing wide as she recognized the sounds coming from his phone.

It seemed she wasn’t the only one playing Pokemon Go after all.

*****

When Gold first heard about the game, he had sneered at the idea and called it a massive waste of time.

His tune had changed rather quickly however when he realized that if he wanted to understand anything that his son or his grandson were talking about these days, he’d better learn to “catch them all.” 

Wanting to avoid the roaming packs of teenagers that seemed to appear around town in the evenings – thank god for Ms. Blanchard’s summer school, he thought – he’d begun taking an extended lunch break each day and using it to walk to different areas of town in search of his prey.

Discovering the Dragonite in front of the statue had been quite a coup, and he couldn’t wait to tell the boys that he’d caught one. The three had taken to discussing their catches during their weekly, long-distance video calls and – if the catch was particularly good – bragging messages had been known to show up in their group text.

Neal had reported just that morning that Emma was close to giving in and adding the app. Gold had chuckled at the news – he’d known his daughter-in-law’s competitive streak wouldn’t hold out for very long, even if she did think it a rather ridiculous hobby for her to indulge in, considering that she caught real bad guys for a living.

He decided he would text his family about his victory as soon as he finished patrolling the park. With a quick check of his creature eggs – one was only .3 km from hatching and he debated walking the long way back to the shop to get it to hatch – he was about to walk away from the statue when he heard a noise.

Gold looked up to find the town’s new librarian, Miss French, staring at him in astonishment.

Or more accurately, staring at his phone.

“You play?” she asked, as if not believing the proof in front of her eyes.

“It’s good exercise,” Gold replied evenly. He didn’t really feel like defending his interest in the game, even if he was a bit older than the average player. By _several_ decades, he thought wryly.

But as Belle gave him a tentative smile and held up her phone for him to see, he realized that perhaps he wouldn’t need to defend himself after all.

“I play too. Got sucked in a few days ago.” She pointed towards the spot where the Dragonite had been. “May I?”

Gold stepped back hastily. “Of course.”

He watched silently as she moved several feet closer, her face screwing up in concentration as she tried to flick her pokeball at the creature that had popped up on her screen. Despite himself, Gold found he was interested to see how she fared against the creature. Having just captured the Pokemon a few minute earlier, he wanted to see if it put up as much of a struggle with her as it had with him.

Twice Miss French hit her target, the pokeball snapping up the creature. Twice the pokeball shuddered and fell apart, releasing the Dragonite again.

“Ugh,” she groaned.

Before he realized what he was doing, Gold had stepped up beside her. “Try again,” he encouraged her, “but this time, wait until the circles above the creature become smaller.”

She turned to look at him, her bright blue eyes full of surprise.

“Alright,” she said, licking her lips. Gold watched as she squinted at the screen, flicking the ball towards the creature just as the circle above it decreased to half the size of its head, and hitting it square on the muzzle.

Once again the creature was snapped up by the pokeball. Both of them held their breath as they watched the screen. The ball shook once, twice, and then a third time before every player’s favorite word appeared on the screen. 

_Gotcha._

Miss French let out a loud whoop, turning to face him with a triumphant smile.

“Thank you.” She offered the hand not holding her phone. “I’m Belle French by the way. I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced.”

He stared at her hand for a moment before belatedly offering his own. “Mr. Gold. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Officially, that is.”

“Likewise.” She gestured towards his phone. “Catch anything else fun today?”

“Not really, just some lower level creatures. The Dragonite was the biggest thing I’ve caught for several days.”

“Me too. I mean, I caught one of those three-headed pineapple tree things the other day, but this is definitely better.”

“Three-headed pineapple tree?” He blinked at her in confusion. “Do you mean an Exeggutor?”

She blushed. “As you can see, I’m not much of an expert. I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time, to be honest.”

He snorted, gesturing to himself. “Believe me, I’m right behind you. I’ve been getting a crash course on all of this from my grandson.”

As the words fell from his lips, he fought back the urge to wince. For the first time in recent memory, a gorgeous woman was actually taking the time to talk to him and, of course, he just had to mention that he was old enough to have a grandson.

But based on the way Belle was still smiling at him, it seemed she didn’t find his statement odd or off-putting at all.

“I’m just happy to find another adult who plays in this town,” she said with a shrug. “I was beginning to think I was the only one.”

He nodded in reply, not trusting himself not to say something stupid. For some reason, the young woman’s presence was making him feel increasingly flustered. Next thing he knew, his voice would start cracking the way Henry’s did whenever he was around the opposite sex.

At Gold’s age, he had hoped he was beyond being mesmerized by a pretty woman, no matter how beautiful her features were or how her long, shapely legs –

His thoughts abruptly cut off as his eyes met hers and he realized that she had noticed his wandering gaze.

It was going to take more than his Pokemon skills to save him now, Gold thought grimly.

But yet again, Belle’s reaction surprised him, her face reddening with a blush instead of anger.

“Would you like to, uh, walk some more perhaps?” she asked. “I’d love to hear more tips if you have them, especially when it comes to handling balls.”

Her eyes grew wide and this time, it was Gold who flushed.

“I mean, I – uh…”

Gold cleared his throat. “I would like that,” he said quickly, hoping to save her the embarrassment of trying to explain.

She gave him a grateful smile. “So would I.”

Without thinking of why it seemed like the right thing to do, he offered his arm to her. “Shall we?”

He got his answer when she laughed happily, taking his arm without hesitation. The action caused his heart to speed up slightly and he felt a sense of achievement not unlike the one he had felt after catching the Dragonite.

“Yes, let’s.”

****

As they left the park nearly an hour later, Gold noticed Leroy standing by the statue, glaring at his phone as a rather familiar tune issued forth.

Gold considered pointing the sight out to Belle, but quickly dismissed the idea. He rather liked having Belle’s attention all to himself.

Because despite all the creatures they had captured that afternoon, there was little doubt in his mind that Belle would prove to be the best catch of them all. 


End file.
